


Out Of Breath

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 23:31:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16169027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: A rainy, autumn afternoon with Carol, Therese, and Rindy.





	Out Of Breath

Madison Avenue, The Apartment  
_October 1953_

Rindy kept jumping on top of her mother’s bed, making her hair flying and sprawling across her dark red face. Carol watched her, amusingly, as she set down a woven basket filled with fresh, clean laundry. 

“You’re so silly,” Carol observed, pulling out one of Therese’s red wine colored blouses to shake out and start folding. “Such a silly girl...”

Rindy bounced and landed her bottom on the mattress, out of breath. She watched her mother pull more clothes out from the basket to flatten and fold. Carol reached over to help swipe the sweaty strands of hair off Rindy’s mouth and cheeks. Rindy quickly scrambled herself back up to jump some more.

“Careful, honey, you'll wear yourself out,” Carol warned her.

“No, I... Won’t!” Rindy insisted. 

Her mother paused after folding one of the bathroom hand towels. She was listening to the front door downstairs opening with Therese’s footsteps moving through the foyer. Rindy abruptly stopped jumping to listen along, too. 

“Aunt T’s home!” she outburst. 

Carol watched the five-year-old crawl off the bed to get down and run out of the bedroom. Smirking to herself, Carol left the laundry basket and made her way downstairs to greet her lovely partner.

Therese was collecting Rindy in her arms, kissing her, by the time Carol appeared. Rindy could smell the rainy outdoors on her aunty. When she was put down, she stood by and let her mother come over to greet her.

“Is it still raining?” Carol asked Therese between kisses. She helped remove the green rain jacket and work briefcase off the young woman’s shoulders to hang them both on the coatrack. 

Therese nodded and stepped forward towards the kitchen. Rindy danced in front of her, talking a mile a minute. Something about red apples and fallen leaves. Therese scooped her up in her arms and began to agree with everything she said.

Carol decided to make them hot cider on the stove. She boiled water while listening to Rindy in the background recite and point out Therese’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

Therese took Rindy’s tiny hand in hers and kissed her fingers. 

“I love you,” Therese murmured.

Rindy snuggled up on her lap and buried her face alongside her aunt’s knitted blouse at the kitchen table. 

When the hot cider was ready, Carol had added some cinnamon sticks to the glasses and set them carefully on the table. Therese thanked her and pulled her drink closer while she felt Rindy squirm and lean over to grab her glass.

“What are these?” she said, lifting one of the sticks up.

“Cinnamon. It’s to add flavor,” Therese explained.

Carol stood by and pulled out the ceramic cookie jar lid to grab some pumpkin spice cookies and lay them on a napkin beside her daughter. Rindy picked up a cookie and took a bite. Therese patted her by the waist and blew the steam off her cider drink. She began to listen to the rain pouring outside.

**xxxx**


End file.
